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8. δραχμὰς ἔχουσα δέκα. Ten drachmas. This parable is peculiar to St Luke. The Greek drachma (about 10d.) corresponds to the Latin denarius. Each represented a day’s wages, and may be roughly rendered shilling. Tob 5:14; Thuc. III. 17; Tac. Ann. I. 17. These small silver coins were worn by women as a sort of ornamental fringe round the forehead (the semedi). The loss might therefore seem less trying than that of a sheep, but (1) in this case it is a tenth (not a hundredth) part of what the woman possesses; and (2) the coin has on it the image and superscription of a king (Gen 1:27; Mat 22:20). “We are God’s drachma”—“I feel more strongly every day that everything is vanity; I cannot leave my soul in this heap of mud.” Lacordaire (Chocarne, p. 42, E. Tr.). Further, this parable is meant to illustrate the gracious truth that the death of a sinner causes a sense of personal loss (ἣν ἀπώλεσα Luk 15:9) in the heart of the Heavenly Father. The former parable indicates the misery of the lost in themselves (τὸ ἀπολωλός, Luk 15:4).
ἅπτει λύχνον καὶ σαροῖ τὴν οἰκίαν καὶ ζητεῖ ἐπιμελῶς. Σαροῖ a colloquial form for σαίρει. We should notice the thorough and deliberate method of the search. Some see in the woman a picture of the Church, and give a separate meaning to each particular; but “if we should attribute to every single word a deeper significance than appears, we should not seldom incur the danger of bringing much into Scripture which is not at all contained in it.” Zimmermann.
ἕως ὅτου εὕρῃ. If it be admissible to build theological conclusions on the incidental expressions of parables, there should be, in these words, a deep source of hope.